Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and
the Optional Protocol thereto: situation of women and girls with disabilities
A/RES/72/162
Declaration 8 and Platform for Action 9 and the outcome documents of their review
conferences,
Welcoming the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 10
which is inclusive of persons with disabilities and in which Member States pledged
to leave no one behind, and acknowledging that Member States, while implementing
the 2030 Agenda, should, inter alia, respect, protect and promote human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all, without discrimination of any kind,
Welcoming also the inclusion of gender equality and the empowerment of all
women and girls as a stand-alone goal and in the implementation of all goals and
targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the recognition that
realizing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is crucial to
making progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals and targets which
contribute to the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities,
Welcoming further the fact that, since the opening for signature of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol
thereto on 30 March 2007, 160 States have signed and 174 States and 1 regional
integration organization have ratified or acceded to the Convention and 92 States have
signed and 92 States have ratified the Optional Protocol,
Noting with appreciation the work and activities that have been and continue to
be undertaken in support of the Convention and towards the fulfilment and
mainstreaming of the rights of all persons with disabilities, particularly through, inter
alia, the Conference of States Parties to the Convention, the Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, other human rights treaty bodies, the Special Rapporteur
of the Human Rights Council on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Special
Envoy of the Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility, the Inter-Agency
Support Group on the Convention and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task
Team on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action,
Expressing concern that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple
and intersecting forms of discrimination, which limit their enjoyment of all human
rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others, particularly with
regard to the equal access of persons with disabilities to education and employment,
access to health-care services, including for sexual and reproductive health, access to
justice and equal recognition before the law, the ability to participate in political and
public life, live independently and be included in the community and have the
freedom to make their own choices,
Expressing concern also that structural or systemic discrimination is reflected
in hidden or overt patterns of discriminatory institutional behaviour, discriminatory
cultural traditions, discriminatory and negative social norms and attitudes and
unequal power relations that view women and girls, in particular women and girls
with disabilities, as subordinate to men and boys, and underscoring that States should
take all appropriate measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality betw een men
and women,
Expressing concern further that stereotypes, stigmatization and discrimination
heighten the risk of violence, exploitation and abuse, including sexual violence and
abuse, against women and girls with disabilities compared to women and girls without
disabilities, as well as men and boys with disabilities,
__________________
8
9
10
2/7
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I.
Ibid., annex II.
Resolution 70/1.
17-22971